Durian ice cream! “Is it really popular?” I asked the woman behind the counter. She nodded. “A lot of people want to try it,” she said. “It’s not as repulsive as the real thing.”

“Not so bad!” said Blowhard Esq. after his first plastic spoonful. I concurred. The flavor reminded me of apricots, only ranker. (In all fairness, I was also reminded of a couple of classic descriptions of the joys of consuming durian. One: “It’s like eating vanilla ice cream while sitting in an outhouse.” The other, from Anthony Bourdain: “It’s like French-kissing your dead grandma.”) Blowhard, Esq. ate another plastic spoonful. “There’s definitely something off about it,” he mused. “But not in the worst way.”